2 groups speak out for immigration reform

Updated 8:35 am, Wednesday, April 3, 2013

Entrepreneurs and evangelicals from across the state are stepping up pressure on Texas legislators they fear could stand in the way of comprehensive immigration reform.

Both groups hope — through targeted radio ads, petitions and demonstrations outside district offices this week — to influence debate one last time before bipartisan groups in the U.S. House and Senate are expected to release reform proposals later this month.

But these grass-roots campaigns also underline a growing divide on the issue of immigration, pitting Republican members of the state's congressional delegation, many of whom have dug in their heels in opposition, against two key conservative voting blocs — the religious right and the state's small business community.

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“Our political leaders need to hear from their constituents and know that evangelical Christians are strongly behind them if they have the moral courage to act.” said Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Convention's ethics and religious liberty commission.

Land spoke Tuesday on behalf of the Evangelical Immigration Table, a coalition of religious groups from across the country that launched a six-figure radio ad buy this week to lobby on behalf of reform.

The 30-second spots are slated to air on Christian stations in four states, including Texas.

Fleming said Tuesday his goal in participating in the campaign was not to shame any specific lawmaker for their stance on the issue, but rather to “create the environment where the right decisions can be made and decision-makers know they are supported.”

In recent weeks, he has met with U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and U.S. Rep. Ted Poe, R-Houston, to discuss his 11,000-member congregation's support for a path to citizenship, increased border security and an expanded family visa program.

“These are good folks who want to represent the interests of our state,” he said. “They're going to listen to the voices they hear.”

Small business owners, who have in the past sided with Texas Republicans in recent fights against the Obama administration's health care overhaul and efforts to raise taxes on top wage earners, have also joined the pro-immigration reform push.

A handful of businesses from across the state is expected to deliver 500 petitions today to Cornyn's office, said Cristina Parker, a spokeswoman for the Reform Immigration for Texas Alliance.

Both groups have recently embraced immigration reform as a top legislative priority.

Business owners argue the nation's current laws make it too difficult to legally hire the employees they need to compete and are pushing lawmakers to expand visa programs for high-tech and agricultural workers.

The impetus to seek change within the evangelical community has grown as more Latinos fill church pews across the state. They point to Biblical admonitions to embrace strangers to build their case for immigration reform.

Even at the Oak Hills Church in well-heeled far north San Antonio, Pastor Max Lucado has noticed a shift. In an interview Tuesday, he acknowledged recent conversations with congregant Benita Veliz had changed his views on the issue.

“I didn't even know a person could do all that and not have their citizenship,” Lucado said. “It really helped put a face on the issue for me.”

Despite the mobilization of grass-roots groups, bipartisan working groups in the U.S. Senate and House have yet to introduce any specific legislation.

Members of the Senate group led by John McCain, R-Ariz., and Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said last weekend they hoped to file their bill as soon as next week, as lawmakers return to Washington after a two-week recess.

Their plan is said to include a pathway to citizenship for the nation's estimated 12 million undocumented immigrants as well as beefed up border security measures and an expanded visa program.

But the lack of a bill hasn't stopped several of Texas' Republicans from reacting with skepticism.

Both Cornyn and U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, have already come out against any plan that would extend citizenship to those who entered the country illegally.

They're joined by several Texas Republicans at the House level, including Lamar Smith of San Antonio.

“If we pass something that allows those here illegally to achieve citizenship, it means you're a chump for having stayed in your own country and followed the rules,” Cruz said Monday in an interview Monday with Fox News.

And recent polls suggest they may have support behind them.

Despite efforts from groups like the Evangelical Immigration Table, a recent survey conducted by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life found well over half of Anglo evangelicals surveyed described immigrants as a burden on national resources and said they threaten traditional American values.

But Fleming, the pastor at Houston's Champion Forest church, argued Tuesday the poll might not reflect how quickly the evangelical community views are changing.

“For years, white evangelicals have been listening to the voices on the extremes,” he said. “But as more and more pastors and Christian conservative leaders begin to speak out, people are moving in the right direction.”